


Armor Hearts

by DarthChocolate



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Gen, Pre-Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-15
Updated: 2019-03-15
Packaged: 2019-11-18 11:57:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18120353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarthChocolate/pseuds/DarthChocolate
Summary: This is the first argument about Sabine as a member of the crew. It discusses the reason why Kanan and Hera stuck by her despite her early issues.*It has small references to my other fanfictions "Ghost" and "Invasion of Ryloth: Tales."





	Armor Hearts

  Kanan placed his hands on his hips as he stared at Hera. “I really do feel bad for Sabine. She has been through a lot from the Empire to her friend betrayal. But she can’t stay with us,” he started counting the reasons on his fingers. “First of all, she is a loose cannon figuratively and literally. She doesn’t follow orders. Also, she is going to get us blown up. She is stubborn.”

   “You’re a model of easy going.” Hera smirked back at him from her captain’s chair.

   “He’s right,” Zeb stated. “If she won’t listen, she will endanger our jobs and our lives.”

   “We can’t make her listen because she is too closed off.” Kanan added. “She’s not a good fit for us.”

   “Is that how you both feel?” They nodded to Hera. “Ok, we’ll put it to a vote. Those in favor for her leaving.” Kanan and Zeb raised their hands. “Those in favor for her staying.” She and Chopper raised their arms. “It’s a tie. Sabine stays.”

   “That’s not fair.” Zeb complained. “Chopper only wants her to stay cause he likes it when she blows things up.”

   Chopper laughed as he left the cockpit. Zeb yelled after him. “Droid, you better not be getting any ideas. If you think of touching one of her explosives, I’ll…” The door shut behind them.

   Kanan and Hera were left alone. He leaned in closer to her. “Hera, this is really a bad idea. She is like a bomb ready to explode. You can’t stop her from blowing up. You definitely don’t want to be near her when it does.”

  “Who said that I was going to stop her,” Hera stood up and headed out.

  “Wait, are you serious?” Kanan regarded her in disbelief.

  “I usually am,” the door closed behind her. She stopped in front of Sabine’s quarters. She recalled back when she was around Sabine’s age. There had been so much angry and pain inside her. She remembered one lesson that she had with Instructor Mak Dez after her mother’s death.

 

  _They were out in the middle of the desert_. Their blurrgs were tied up. Hera was about ten years old. She had been complaining the entire trip. “It’s not a good idea to be out in the open like this.”

  “Yes, because the Empire will send an army after two lone people with sticks.” Mak smirked sarcastically.

  “I don’t want to practice today.” She whined.

  “Wow, like I haven’t heard that before,” he picked up a spear. “You need to think up better excuses.” He tossed it at her feet.

  “We have never practiced qiang with real spears.” She lifted up the spear.

  Mak went into a defensive position. “That because we are learning colere instead of quiang.”

  “I thought that you said you were never going to teach me colere.” He smacked her arm with the pole of his spear. “OW!”

  “I lied. That what adults do. We don’t keep our promises. We disappoint you. We hurt you.” Mak struck her again.

  “Aren’t you going to teach me the moves first?” she protested.

  “Nope,” he tripped her. “That’s not how life works. You have to figure them out yourself.”

  “I don’t understand.” She spun herself off the ground.

  “Yup, you definitely don’t understand.” Mak swung his spear at her. “You have no clue at all about why your father has distanced himself from you.”

  “He hasn’t,” Hera countered his attack. “He is just busy leading our people against the Empire.”

 “Are you that naïve?” He scoffed at her. “Don’t deny the truth. Just admit it. You are livid with him.”

  “No, I’m not!”

  Mak blocked her blow. “Yes, you are, and you hate your mother.”

  “I could never hate her!”

  “Of course, you hate her. She said that she loved you. Then, she went off and died. You were left all alone.”

  “I don’t hate her!”

  “If you don’t, you must be a cold-hearted droid.” Mak spun around. “Maybe next time, Ghost won’t have to pull the trigger because you’ll shoot him in the head for him.”

  “Shut up!”

  “You know who you hate the most, yourself. You hate yourself for being so incompetent. You couldn’t save Ghost or your mother.”

  “Shut up! Shut up SHUT UP!” Hera kept swinging her spear until she couldn’t see through her tears. She collapsed on to the ground.

  Mak kneeled down next to her and gave her a hug.

  “I failed her.” Hera cried. “I failed them both.”

  “Kid, you didn’t fail her. The mission was theirs, and they succeed. They kept the most precious thing alive, you. It’s alright to be mad at them. It’s ok to be sad.” Mak wiped the tears from her eyes. “I need to ask you something. How many times did I hit you?”

  “Twice.”

  He shook his head and pointed to each bruise on her body.

  “Seven times,” Hera uttered in disbelief. “Why don’t I remember feeling them?”

  “The body can only handle so much pain before it turns off.”

  “You cut me.” She noticed the blood on her hands. Mak showed her the gash on his arm. It had been from him. Hera cleaned the blood off on her pants. “I’m sorry.”

  “I’m fine.” He consoled her. “It’s hard to feel someone else’s pain when you are numb to your own. That’s why you don’t know how much pain your father is in. In your defense, he hides it really well.” Mak touched the side of Hera’s face. “I know because I see what he sees. You look like your mother. Your father needs time to heal. Don’t give up on him.”

 

 

   With her hand on the door, Hera took a deep breath and walked in. Sabine had been lying across her bed staring at the ceiling. She refused to turn her head as she addressed Hera. “Are you here to kick me out?”

  “No.”

   Sabine guessed again. “Are you here to lecture me on the importance of following orders?”

  “No,” Hera examined the walls.

  “What do you want then?”

  “I should have known.” Hera admired the spray-painted murals on the walls.

  “That I would paint on the walls?”

  “That you’re an artist by the way you fixed things. My grandmother was an artist like that, so I was told. She died before I was born.”

  “Did the Empire kill her?” Sabine faced Hera.

  “No, they didn’t. They killed my mother.”

   Sabine looked away. “I’m sorry.”

   Hera caught a flash of pity and guilt across her face. She pondered this as she went to sat on the edge of Sabine’s bed. “You are very talent. The Empire recruited you.” The young girl’s body stiffen. It wasn’t hard to figure out the rest with Sabine’s previous outbursts against the Empire. “You thought you were helping people, but the Empire used you to hurt people.” Sabine tried to bury her head under a pillow. “You’re not the first person, Sabine, that the Empire has tricked. When you found out the truth, they spread lies about you. When you tried to tell your family…”

  “Shut up!” Sabine screamed. “Stop being nice to me. I don’t need you. I don’t need anyone!”

  “We need you. We want you here.”

   Sabine tuned her back to Hera. “I hate you. Just leave me alone. Go away like everyone else.” Hera could hear the tears and pulled Sabine over for a hug. “I hate you.”

   “That’s ok.” Hera responded. Sabine looked at her in disbelief. “It’s alright to hate me. I’m still going to stay right here with you.”

   “I have hurt people.”

   “I know,” Hera gently stroke her hair. “Like I know that you will help people. We will be here to support you.”

    “Why didn’t they…” Sabine couldn’t hold back the tears. She leaned her head on Hera’s shoulder. “Why didn’t they…”

    “Listen to you,” Hera finished her question. “Why did they abandon us?” She stroked Sabine’s hair again. “Why did our families call us fools for doing the right thing? I don’t know.” She lifted Sabine’s chin up. “You’re not alone anymore. We are here for you. You’re my family now, and I’m not giving up on you.”

   Kanan had been standing in the doorway for a few seconds. He felt awkward and didn’t want to interrupt them. However, both women noticed him and pulled apart from each other.

  “We got confirmation on the drop off location?” Hera asked.

   “Yes,” he kneeled down next to them. “So, Sabine, you’re our daughter now. You do have enough style and stubbornness to be one of ours.”

  “Though I’m not as crazy,” Sabine smirked at Kanan.

   Hera laughed. “Hopefully not.” Then, she pulled Sabine in for another hug.

   To their surprise, Kanan joined in on the hug. “I guess you’re stuck with us.”

**Author's Note:**

> For more information, please go to https://aurora-light-blog.tumblr.com/


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